Lufax, the online wealth management service spun off by insurance group Ping An and backed by several corporates, has confidentially filed for a $3bn initial public offering, Nikkei reported yesterday.
The company intends to float in the United States and the offering is slated to take place in the next two months, according to two people familiar with the transaction.
Formed in 2011, Lufax began life as an online peer-to-peer lending platform but has scaled that element of its business down to comply with regulations, moving more toward consumer finance and wealth management. It had 44 million registered users as of the end of 2019.
The company closed a $1.29bn syndicated loan from HSBC and Citibank in April this year but its last equity funding came in a $1.33bn round in late 2018 that valued it at more than $39.3bn post-money.
SBI Holdings led the 2018 round, which included fellow financial services firms JP Morgan, Macquarie Group, UBS and UOB along with investment banking firm Goldman Sachs’ Private Equity Group.
The round was co-led by Primavera Capital, All-Stars Investment and Qatar Investment Authority and was also backed by Hedosophia, Hermitage Capital and LionRock Capital.
Lufax had raised $924m from investors including food producer Cofco, financial services group Bank of China, investment bank Guotai Junan and Minsheng Shangyin International in 2016 alongside $292m from its existing backers, at a valuation of $18.5bn.
BlackPine Private Equity Partners, CDH Investments and China International Capital had provided $500m in series A funding for the company the year before, valuing it at $10bn.
